Hiking from Theth to Valbona through the Accursed Mountains. Albania’s most popular one-day hike.
This is a mountain hike. There is no mountain rescue service so dress appropriately and take a dry set of clothes. The paths are at times confusing. If getting lost is your thing, load up on Maps.me.
The Albanian Alps, more commonly known as The Accursed Mountains or Prokletije in Albanian, stretch more than 60 km from Montenegro to Kosovo.
Maja Jezercë is the highest peak at 2694m, the sixth highest in the Balkans.
Lock-Up Tower in Theth, right next to my guesthouse:
Most choose to start in Valbona, but I decided to start in Theth, which involves 200m more ascent, and is steeper to boot, which is exactly why I chose to do it this way.
The path up from Theth ain’t so great, going up is easier with fresh legs as opposed to going down loose scree at the end of the hike. Do you see my logic?
Base camp, whichever way you do the hike, is Shkodra. And The Wanderers Hostel is by far the best place to stay in town, as they are the most competent at organising the transport at both ends.
They helped me out in getting to Theth after the guest house I was staying at, cocked up the arrangements – I doubt they even made the call but that’s another story!
I rode a shared taxi with two old ladies in a beat-up Merc. The Albanians may be pretty reckless at driving, but they sure know how to drive cars designed for the Autobahn on roads most of us wouldn’t dare drive on without a 4×4.
Church in Theth:
I chose Shpella Guest House in Theth simply as it was the cheapest on Booking.com. 17€ with breakfast. Yes, Theth is not a cheap place! Midweek at the end of September, and I was the only guest. Weekends are, they tell me, a different story. Theth is a popular place with locals.
They didn’t have a set dinner, so on the first night, I chose fërgesë from the Albanian à la Carte menu. And washed it down with a beer:
It had been suggested that if I had time, I should take an extra day to explore Theth or more appropriately, the trails at the other end of the valley.
I went to the waterfalls before continuing quite a bit more, all the time following the river, before finding a spot where I could cross the river and pick up the dirt road to take me back to Theth.
The waterfall is hidden on the left side of the image below, and you can see the river in the valley, which I crossed a few kilometres beyond the scope of the photo, and the road/track on the right side I ended up on:
I then recce’d the path which would take me to Valbona, as there are a few misleading paths.
Hiking from Theth to Valbona:
The weather broke the previous afternoon. It rained and thundered all night. Not heavily, but deffo not ideal when hiking over an exposed mountain pass, but at 7:30 am, there was a hint of brightness, and I decided to go
I ate as much as I could at breakfast.
The night before, I had filled up two 900ml Cola bottles with water to let the water warm up a bit, as it’s mountain water and very cold. I drank 500ml with breakfast and refilled before I left.
I was a bit apprehensive. The walk was the hardest thing I had done in quite a few years.
It involved a 1100-metre climb over 6.5 km, plus 2 km from Shpella before the uphill started, and a steep descent for 3 km down the other side, followed by a longer and easier section to the trailhead.
I was unsure of my fitness and concerned about the weather.
But it turned out well. Not ideal for those perfect photos, but for the actual hiking, it couldn’t have been better. Here you can see the track out of Theth: It gets much steeper!
And suddenly you pop out of the tree line:
And a long descent into better weather:
The pass @1815m is in the top left corner of the image below:
Downhill all the way to Valbona
On the final leg, easy now, but on a mission to beat the weather.
The heavens opened, and I snuck into a hotel to wait it out. The guy there called the Arben Selinaj Guest House, the one The Wanderers Hostel told me about, and the guy came and picked me up. Just as well, as it poured for 3 hours and the temperature dropped, as it does at 950m.
Job done. 18 km in 6 hours, including a 30-minute stop.
Photos the next morning as I waited for a ride out.
